The Best Present of All: Part 3
The party lasted a total of three hours, but for Applejack it seemed to go by way too fast– she was having so much fun. But, as usual, all good things had to come to an end and slowly but surely, the crowd thinned as guests began to leave the party.
Eventually, only Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Twilight, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders remained in the barn. Big Macintosh had already begun cleaning up the scattered paper hats and confetti while the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat in the corner, gulping down sugary treats and getting hyped up for the sleepover they were about to have. Applejack stood near the entrance, talking with Twilight while Spike lay almost unconscious on the unicorn’s back– the young dragon was exhausted and full from the pie eating contest he had entered against Pinkie Pie.
“This was a great party Twilight, Ah can’t thank ya enough for helping out with it.” Applejack said.
“It was our pleasure.” Twilight said. “But really, all we did was help set up and organize. Rainbow did most of the work in planning, preparing and assigning jobs to each of us. I’ve never seen her so dedicated to anything not related to flying.”
Applejack nodded, her eyes glancing towards the back of the barn– specifically up to a rafter where Rainbow Dash sat, staring out of a tiny window at the full moon.
“Yer right,” Applejack said with a nod. “Ah’m beyond proud of her.”
She then looked around the barn; everything from the dance floor to the mountain of trash made her think of just how many guests had showed up. She noticed the massive chocolate cake, or rather, what was left of it. It was a cake Rainbow had picked out and topped with a customized design that the pegasus had chosen as well. The remaining party supplies, the banner, the food, the empty spot where Vinyl Scratch had been earlier– everything served as a reminder to Applejack of all the hard work Rainbow Dash had put into celebrating her special day.
“She really outdid herself.”
“Then why don’t you go tell her that?” Twilight said, motioning her head towards the rafter and the sitting pegasus atop it. Applejack nodded, bade Twilight and the near-sleeping dragon good night (as well as thanking them again for sharing in her birthday) and made her way over to the rafter. Part-way there she stopped, her eyes landing on the pile of gifts she had yet to open. At the top lay a flat gift she knew to be Rainbow Dash’s. She trotted over and grabbed it from the mound before continuing on. She passed Big Macintosh, still hard at work cleaning the floor, and gave him a small, appreciative hug. He stiffened for a second, clearly taken aback by the gesture, but soon returned the gesture with a hug of his own. They broke off and exchanged smiles before Applejack continued on her way and Big Macintosh returned his work.
Applejack ascended a rickety ladder until she finally reached the rafter where Rainbow Dash had been sitting all by lonesome.
“Hey Dashie.”
Rainbow Dash turned to look at Applejack and smiled.
“Oh, hey there AJ,” She said with a smile. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much,” she responded. ‘Ah just thought that Ah’d tell a certain pegasus how much fun Ah had at the party she organized.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and gave a small wave of her hoof. “Don’t mention it, I’m just glad you enjoyed yourself.” She looked down at the gift in Applejack’s hooves.
“Oh,” she said, her expression immediately fell to one of despair, “you... you have my gift.”
“Yep, ah wanted to open it in front of ya.” Applejack said, taking a seat next to Rainbow Dash. They exchanged a smile and kissed. She looked down at the gift, the only indication that it was from Rainbow was the small, white sticker with ‘To AJ, from Your Dashie-cube’ written in hasty, black pen.
“Hehe, not one for extensive writing, are ya?” Applejack asked.
“Shut up and open it,” Rainbow Dash said with a groan.
Applejack chuckled and then proceeded to tear the wrapping paper off of the flimsy gift. Her eyes widened when she saw the glistening blue of the Wonderbolts uniform that was her gift.
“Wow, this is really neat,” Applejack said, squinting to get a close view of it. “Where did ya get it? It looks so authentic.”
“That’s because it is,” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her head nervously. “It’s... it’s the suit that Aurora Flare gave me when I was a filly.”
Applejack looked up at Rainbow Dash,all joy flushed from her face, replaced with pure disbelief.
“This... this is... that... uniform?” Applejack asked, receiving a nod in response. “But, that’s yer most prized possession. Ya kept it locked in a glass box for Celestia’s sake.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yes, AJ. I did. And I could sit here and say that I thought long and hard about what to give you before settling on this. Heck, I could even come up with some cheesy metaphor or meaning for this gift in relation to our love for each other.”
Rainbow Dash let out a light chuckle before returning to her solemnity. “But I’d be lying. Sure there is meaning behind this gift, but it isn’t enough to justify what I did.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled before she finally confessed. “The truth is that I picked this as your gift today...ten minutes before I arrived at the party.”
Applejack tilted her head. “What?”
“I was so caught up in planning this party that I forgot your present all together,” Rainbow Dash said guiltily. “After I left the farm earlier, I spent the rest of the day before the party flying around town, trying to figure out what I should get you. And in the process, I got hit on by a stallion...and I threw your blueberry pie in his face. I was sexually harassed by two mares. I even begged Rarity like a dog. But after that...” Rainbow Dash took a second to steady herself as she let out a small sniffle, “after all that I only managed to find a gift for you just minutes before the party. Rainbow Dash looked down as tears started to form in her eyes.
“Then Pinkie Pie showed her gift, the one she put so much hard work into, the one that stunned everyone at the party.” Rainbow Dash swallowed. “And then there I was, your fillyfriend with a gift I didn’t make or even buy, only grabbed out of my own closet at the last possible second.”
The pegasus used the back of her hoof to wipe some tears away from her eyes.
“And I couldn’t help but feel... you know...guilty and... like I let you down.” Before Rainbow Dash could erupt into tears, she felt a comforting hoof under her chin, lifting her face up and towards the very caring face of Applejack.
“Rainbow, this gift didn’t let me down in the slightest,” Applejack said, taking her hoof away from Rainbow’s chin and using it to comb through her short-cut mane. The pegasus’ cheeks turned bright red, clearly enjoying the soothing touch of her fillyfriend’s hoof raking along her scalp.
“R-really?” she asked.
“Of course,” Applejack said with a reassuring smile, “Ah know how much this Wonderbolts uniform meant to you, and Ah’m beyond touched that you’d give it to me.”
Applejack removed her hoof and smiled. “Besides, if ya forgot to get me a gift, Ah wouldn’t have cared.”
Rainbow Dash gave Applejack an extremely puzzled look. “Why not?”
“Look around us,” she said, gesturing to the entire barn. “This whole party, all of the fun moments and the great memories, was only possible because of ya, Rainbow.”
Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash and patted her on the shoulder. “It’s because of yer effort that Ah got to have the best birthday party of mah life.” Rainbow still looked like she was ashamed of herself, so Applejack pressed on, not willing to let the love of her life stew in such a pit of self-constructed despair.
“Ya worked hard to make me happy with this party, and that was more than enough of a gift.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, but was clearly still not convinced– her eyes still refused to meet Applejack’s gaze. However, the stubborn country pony wasn’t finished expressing the gratitude she felt to her marefriend.
“Besides,” the country mare said, placing her hooves onto Rainbow Dash’s shoulders, “the best gift of all is having ya as mah fillyfriend.”
Rainbow Dash looked up at Applejack, wiping some tears out of her eyes.
“R-really?” She asked with a small sniffle. “Do you... you really mean that?”
As she looked into her fillyfriend’s face, Applejack could see a glimmer of hope in her otherwise sad eyes, the same eyes that typically conveyed high self-esteem as well as honest affection simultaneously. Those eyes were one of the main reasons why Applejack first started to have romantic thoughts about the polychromatic pegasus those many nights ago.
“Of course Ah do,” Applejack nodded with the utmost confidence. “No gift could ever compare ta knowing that Ah have ya by mah side, and that Ah have yer love.”
Applejack drew Rainbow Dash into a warm embrace. “Confessing to ya about mah thoughts at Hearth’s Warming Eve was the best thing Ah’ve ever done, because it gave me the greatest part of mah life.”
Applejack broke the hug and looked back into Rainbow Dash’s eyes with a smile. “It gave me you.”
Rainbow Dash’s smile returned, her cheeks lit up bright red. Applejack returned the smile and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on the top of Rainbow Dash’s head. Rainbow snuggled against the orange mare’s chest, letting out a sigh as she looked up at the moon. Neither mare had ever felt so safe and warm, their hearts beating in rhythm as they relished each other’s closeness.
They stared up at the sky through the tiny window of the barn. Although it was a cool night, the closeness between the two mares kept them as warm as if they had been wearing wool sweaters or a blanket.
“I love you AJ,” Rainbow Dash said breathlessly, “with my whole heart and soul.”
Applejack looked down at her fillyfriend and gave her another kiss, this time on her cheek.
“Ah love ya too, Sugarcube,” She responded, nuzzling the pegasus pressed up against her as they watched a pair of identical shooting stars blaze across the night sky- neither in front of the other, both shining with equal, dazzling intensity, flying in perfect harmony.
It was just as it had been on that cool Hearth’s Warming Eve.